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POISE 

and 

SYMMETRY OF FIGURE 



Second Edition 



KNOW THYSELF SERIES 




Correct Poise 



POISE 

and 

SYMMETRY OF FIGURE 



Susanna Cocroft 
m 

author of 

Growth in Silence 

Self Sufficiency 

The Vital Organs 

Character as Expressed in the Body 

Ideals and Privileges of Woman 

Etc., Etc. 

originator of the 

Physical Culture Extension Society 



First Edition 1906 
Second Edition 1911 



Published by the 

Physical Culture Extension Society 

624 Michigan Ave., Chicago. III. 



"RA77S 



Copyright, 1906, 
by Susanna Coceoft 



4° 

&CI.A312136 



POISE 

and 

SYMMETRY OF FIGURE 



"No woman is to blame for not being beautiful at sixteen, 

But she has only herself to blame if she is not beautiful at forty." 

— Fra Lippo. 



True beauty is in a radiant soul shining 
through a pliant, expressive, graceful body. 
This radiant beauty is developed and en- 
couraged in its growth, as we cherish and 
cultivate habits of beautiful thoughts, and 
of unselfish giving of self to others. Each 
kindly act feeds and nourishes the spirit 
which prompts it, each kindly thought is a 
little seed which grows and blossoms in 
many times its own. 

The faces which attract, which hold us as 
by magnet, are those which radiate the 
spirit of giving, of generosity, of self abne- 
gation; a reaching out to uplift, to 

11 



lighten the burden by the comfort of help- 
ful sympathy. There may be no worldly 
gifts,— these are but trifles compared with 
the gift of heart and soul. 

It is a woman's privilege to surround her- 
self with refining educative influences in 
nature, and in art; each artistic ex- 
pression inspires a beautiful thought; 
it speaks to the soul in language too 
subtle for words. It is her delight 
to so combine color and form in her home 
as to make it an expression of the art with- 
in her own nature; but often she wears 
herself out in the effort, forgetting that she 
should be the most artistic expression 
there; forgetting that she, herself, should 
express more of truth and beauty in her 
speaking, breathing, delicate flesh than any 
artist can portray in cold marble or paint. 
The pictures on her walls are confined to 
places, but the sister, the wife, the mother, 
is the moving picture — the ever-present in- 
fluence, and her beauty, her grace, her 
charm of manner speak to us in the silent 
hour when the human voice is hushed. Her 
very charm of movement lingers with us, 

12 



as a delicate perfume; it elevates, educates 
and refines— it lifts men and women above 
the commonplace. 

It is the spiritual influence of our friend 
which we feel when away from her, and 
the expression of this spirit in movement 
and in voice. It is the fragrance of the en- 
tire rose which enthralls, not tlie odor of 
the individual petals. The sentiments and 
emotions, engendered by the thoughts of a 
lifetime, make up the fragrance, the in- 
fluence of a life. It may be a fleeting ex- 
pression of countenance, a characteristic 
movement of the hand, or an inflection of 
the voice of a friend, which comes to us 
when absent, but usually it is the move- 
ment, the expression, the charm of the en- 
tire body which first recalls her to us and 
which lingers longest with us. 

Physical beauty is not alone in pegular 
features, in the color of the eyes or in the 
whiteness of the teeth; it is in the subtle 
charm of the manner which eludes us, 
whenever we try to define it, in the dainty 
grace and rhythm of movement, which 
speak to soul, not eye, not ear. 

13 



Symmetry A symmetrically proportioned fig- 
of Figure ure? we ^ poised and gracefully 
carried, with a healthful, vibrant body, 
rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes, is more 
effective than a pretty face; it expresses 
culture and refinement, while merely 
symmetrical features may hide a shallow 
nature. 

Few women have regular features, all 
may have good figures, well groomed and 
wholesome. 

No woman needs take her figure for 
granted. She can make herself as attrac- 
tive, expressive and magnetic as she wills. 
In early life, before the bones have hard- 
ened, even their shape may be changed, and 
at any time in life the adjustment of the 
bones in their sockets and the quantity and 
contour of the flesh may be altered — even 
at the age of ninety. If one has neglected 
her figure in early years, it is never too late 
to improve it. How we love and admire 
the sprightly step of buoyant men and 
women of ninety summers who refuse to 
grow old! 

14 



Why should a woman, just because 
Prime at she has lived fifty years, expect, 
or take it for granted, that she 
must lose her figure or look old and 
wrinkled? In your own circle of acquain- 
tances you may know some woman wlio 
seems never to lose the attractions and the 
buoyancy of youth. You knew her years 
ago, and see her now, still young, still beau 
tiful, still gracious, still like a magnet- 
drawing to herself the attentions of all who 
come within her sphere. 

Such women as Madame Patti, Madame 
Bernhardt, Madame Ehea, Modjeska, Cleo- 
patra, of world-wide reputation, and 
thousands of others known within a smaller 
radius, were at the zenith of mental and 
physical powers at fifty or sixty; but they 
gave daily time to physical exercise and at- 
tended daily to hygienic rules in the care of 
their bodies. Did it not pay these women 
to take a little time for the care of the 
physical so as to keep themselves young? 
Was not their influence greater? Did not 
their lives count for more than if they had 

15 



broken down at fifty because of thoughtless 
negligence of their physical organism! 

Would not every woman's time count for 
more in the end, with a few moments of 
daily, intelligent care upon her health and 
appearance? There are more Madame 
Pattis, more Madame Bernhardts than the 
world dreams of— they need but to recog- 
nize the qualities, the possibilities within 
themselves, and then intelligently set to 
work to develop them, realizing that per- 
fect health is the first requisite of success, 
and that the laws of health must be studied 
and observed. 

The years take so little, they seem but 
to add the charm of experience. The beau- 
ty of fifty is the sound, ripe fruit and is 
just as attractive as the blossom of fifteen. 
It has a beauty all its own. The cycle of 
fifty years means maturity of thought, and 
woman should realize that, if she preserves 
the harmonious use of muscle, vital organ, 
nerve and brain, when she does break down 
—at what age who shall say?— certainly 
not at three score years and ten— there 
will be a general giving out of all tissues, 

16 



and old age will be the beautiful, mellow 
fruit, the result of past care and nurture. 
The end will simply be a restful waning of 
vitality until the light quietly flickers out, 
— invisible to mortal eyes, but shining 
clearer and clearer as it announces its 
coming into the new life across the stream. 
Art With- Most women have artistic tem- 
m Self peraments and love to be sur- 

rounded by the beautiful, but often their 
physical angles or overloaded curves 
constantly grate upon their finer sensibili- 
ties. All of the angles can be well-rounded 
into symmetrical curves by intelligent at- 
tention to the right exercise to rest the 
nerves and strengthen digestion and assim- 
ilation. Any woman can round out these 
curves for herself, or remove a burden of 
fat, if she will correct the cause. A small 
portion of the time spent upon unneces- 
saries, or upon the study of art in the 
abstract, would bring the artistic expres- 
sion within herself, where it is an ever- 
present source of satisfaction. 

Woman wears herself out at art galleries, 
becoming a nervous, angular wreck in the 



assiduous cramming of the brain with 
beautiful ideals expressed on canvas or in 
statuary — forgetting that the Creator is 
the great Artist, and that His most perfect 
expression is in her own form of pliable, 
mouldable flesh, — forgetting, also, that she 
has as much right to ruthlessly destroy a 
valuable painting in the art gallery as to 
despoil the beauty of contour of her own 
figure. A woman's form once beautiful, 
and that beauty lost, reminds one of an art 
gallery from which a valuable picture has 
been stolen. 

The human form is the most artistic 
expression of art in Nature —it is God- given 
—all other art is but finite imitation: and 
every time a member of one's family, a 
friend or stranger looks upon it, it should 
be as educative, as refining as a beautiful 
painting. The time is approaching when 
woman will turn to the study of art in her 
own expression, as well as in clay, in mar- 
ble, and on canvas. 

Is it not just as much a woman's duty to 
add to the beauty as to the use of the 
world?— and who shall say that true beauty 

18 



is not use, since it educates, uplifts, refines, 
changes thought and develops character ? 
Men have more sense of art in the 
More Artistic human form than women. They 
have not the time to spend in 
art galleries brought into their homes, 
and while they toil, that wife, sister or 
mother may have time to study and to beau- 
tify the home, she should not forget to ex- 
press the beauty she studies within herself. 

A man likes to be proud of the woman 
who means the most to him, be she wife, 
mother, sister or sweetheart. He turns to 
look at a beautiful, gracefully carried fig- 
ure, while he passes by, without a glance, 
hundreds of women who are out of propor- 
tion and who carry themselves carelessly 
and indifferently. Do not impute to that 
man a wrong motive; his artistic sense is 
aroused; his very soul awakens; he sees 
the expression of his innate love for the 
beautiful in form and movement. 

A man sees things in the entirety, not in 
detail. He will comment upon the style of 
a certain person who impresses him, but 
he could not tell you the color of her hair, 

19 



whether she wore blue or green, or whether 
her gown was cut after a certain model. 
He does know, however, that she has a 
vivacious manner, a trim, stylish figure, 
and that she carries herself well. 

Pity the man who is so dead that he is 
not moved by a beautiful statue or a beau- 
tiful picture; pity him more if he is not 
moved when these beautiful outlines are 
expressed in living, breathing flesh, with 
the added attraction of warmth, color and 
movement. The man who does not appre- 
ciate a beautiful woman has had his artistic 
nature dwarfed or crushed. He has lost 
the very quality upon which your strongest 
influence depends. 

Every wife, mother, sister, sweetheart, 

should strive to be and to appear at her 

best, so that the one who means the most to 

her may be proud of her. If she is not, 

then she should awaken to her possibilities. 

She cannot afford to let her family miss the 

artistic, refining, attractive influence in 

her house and in herself. 

„ . One has more patience with al- 

Environment . 

most any lot m life than that of the 

20 



common woman who is contented to stay 
common, who cares nothing for her appear- 
ance or her influence upon others, and who 
forgets to look for the beauty in the simple 
things of life. Some women have better 
opportunities for growth than others, yet 
a woman's environment is read not alone 
in her features, but in her carriage, and in 
her very manner of wearing her clothes. 

Lack of development, because of environ- 
ment, is not to be condemned so long as 
woman shows her inclination to be at her 
best in the position in which she is placed. 
Many an intelligent farmer's wife or daugh- 
ter puts to shame the city woman, with all 
her opportunities. Her very bearing and 
outlines show strength at the kernel, more 
definiteness of purpose and more beauty of 
spirit. When given the opportunities of 
the city woman she improves them to more 
purpose. 

One can keep her personal charm and 
keep herself neat, or of a good figure and 
attractive, no matter what her invij*on- 
ment. 

21 



Culture is not expressed in the clothes 
which a woman wears but in the dignity 
with which she wears them. The girl he- 
hind the counter often expresses more of 
true refinement than the woman of wealth 
whom she serves. 
The Infant Except in the case of a few unf or- 
Bom Perfect tunates, each little life launched 
into the world is given a perfect body 
with a natural tendency to grow with 
vital organs in correct proportion, and with 
perfect outlines, from which artists and 
designers mould all models and curves. The 
hinges for doors were first modeled from 
the joints; the idea of strength in ropes and 
cables, gained by interweaving separate 
fibres, arose from the strength expressed in 
the interweaving of muscular tissues. 

With judicious use of food, air and water, 
necessary for rebuilding, with sufficient ex- 
ercise to keep all vital forces free and the 
blood circulating strongly, so that all im- 
purities are eliminated, and so that the 
nourishment is carried to each part, the 
body will grow as the most perfect work 
of the Creator's art. 



We are given an intelligence to keep it 
in its natural state so that obstructions or 
weaknesses may not trammel the mental 
and spiritual growth. How few women 
use this intelligence! 

As you stand at a window, of a hundred 
women who pass, how many do you see 
whose natural outlines conform to the cor- 
rect lines and poise of Figure 1 ! Why do 
ninety per cent of the women deviate from 
the normal in figure? Is it not partly a 
lack of scientific knowledge of the necessity 
of keeping the body in an upright attitude, 
so that each vital organ may have adequate 
room and that the flesh may distribute it- 
self evenly, — or is it lack of pride,— or a 
lack of development of the artistic nature, 
— or of the application of the artistic ideals 
to self? 

There are few women whose pride 
Woman Can an d self -respect are so dead that a 
Good Figure bu °y ant > sprightly, trim, well- 
rounded figure does not fill them 
with admiration. The difficulty is that 
they are not conscious of their possi- 
bilities, or are woefully indifferent. When 

23 



a woman realizes that she can be of just as 
good a figure, with as charming a manner 
and as magnetic a presence as any woman 
of her acquaintance, that her figure depends 
entirely upon herself, she will let go the 
old notion that "It must be natural because 
she grew so." Her pride will be aroused 
and she will correct it. 

No woman should stop short of her best, 
because almost every woman can be made 
as supple and artistic in expression, as any 
figure which artist or painter can portray. 
It is the right of every woman, and can be 
regained and maintained by every woman, 
who has not been actually deformed by ac- 
cident before or after birth. "Every 
woman" is used advisedly, because women 
most grotesque in outline, whose flesh has 
accumulated in parts of the body most ob- 
jectionable, with large hips, which shake 
from side to side with each step, with 
double chins, "rolling in billows as an ac- 
cordion whose music has been spent," are 
ridding themselves of their burdensome 
fat and their entire outlines are assuming 
natural proportions. 

24 





■,. 



Correct Poise 




Figure 2 is an actual drawing from a photograph 
taken just four months before the photo of Figure 3. It is 
difficult to realize that 2 and 3 are of the same woman 
and that she could make this change in four months time 
with exercise and diet, See page 25. 



The change in Figure 
4 to Figure 5 was made in 
five months, through ex- 
ercise and change in poise, 
See page 51. 





4 



Note the difference in 
the style of the gown as 
effected by the character of 
poise of Figures 6 and 7. 
See pages 28, 30 and 38. 




The photograph from which the outline 
of Figure 2 was made was taken June 1st 
and that of Figure 3 was taken October 
1st of the same year. The outlines are 
exact reproductions from the photographs, 
and prove beyond a doubt what a woman 
with strength of character and a definite 
purpose can accomplish, with the exercises, 
breathing, bathing and diet adapted to her 
condition. 

Thin, angular, nervous, agitated women, 
with narrow chests, bony necks, no breasts, 
and jerky in movements, are growing to 
dimpled roundness— and in the changing 
of these figures the entire expression of the 
face changes, in truth the entire mental 
vision changes because a new life is opened 
—the thoughts change as the eye rests upon 
beauty and the mind dwells upon health. 

Figures 33 and 34 show the change in 
development, life and purpose which one 
girl wrought in a few months' attention 
to the diet, rest and exercises prescribed 
for her. A life of comparative conscious- 
ness of beauty and art within herself, has 
opened up, coupled with the satisfaction 

25 



that she has made the most of her talents 
and of her capacity for beauty, both of 
character and of figure. 

From the mere standpoint of econ- 

Figure is omy a good figure pays. As long 

conomy ag a woman mus t spend so much 

of father's, husband's, brother's or her 
own hard-earned money for gowning the 
figure, she should have the intelligence 
to keep it in symmetrical proportions and 
to carry it well. Considered as merely a 
figure on which to hang a dress, it pays to 
trim down or to round it out, that the dress 
may show off to advantage. Better take 
a little of the money spent upon frills and 
bustles to fill out the gown or upon the cor- 
set to keep the flesh within bounds, and put 
it into instructions for its correction. 

Do not depend upon the corset to 

Depend make a good figure; you may ruin 

Upon the y 01ir health in so doing. When 

your outlines are right, a corset 

should be made to fit you and to follow 

your own graceful curves. If the corset is 

holding you in, remember it is also pressing 

upon vital organs, retarding their action 

26 



and weakening muscles about the organs 
themselves. Anything which prevents the 
free action of the vital organs, compresses 
the diaphragm, restricts breathing, and 
interferes with the free elimination of 
waste, which is sure in time to affect the 
complexion, because, if the impurities are 
not thrown off through other channels, the 
skin is overworked. 

The physician who recommends the ab- 
dominal belt or straight front corset, as a 
support for the organs, is aggravating the 
difficulty by further weakening the muscles 
and the vital organs; in a few weeks or 
months his patient will go back to him for 
medicine or an operation for the organs 
thus weakened or seek a physical culture 
teacher to strengthen the muscles. Perma- 
nent relief depends upon gaining the mus- 
cular strength, thus enabling the weakened 
organs and muscles to support themselves. 

If the poise of the body be right, and the 
corset be not worn tight, there is no harm 
in the ' i straight front ' ' corset. It conforms 
to the lines of a perfectly poised body, if 
there is no undue amount of flesh over the 

27 



abdomen. It is where the corset is worn to 
make the figure, rather than to conform 
to its natural outlines that the harm is 
done. 

When a woman patient calls a physician, 
she does not always tell him of natural 
causes which have resulted in her weakness 
and which are apparent to the intelligent 
teacher of physical culture— dress-pads, 
bustles, etc., are misleading. The physical 
culture teacher is guided by natural lines 
and the natural position and room for vital 
organs; she knows the causes of displace- 
ment and the resultant imperfect function- 
ing of the organs misplaced.* 
Style in Clothe a woman of a healthy, whole- 
Carnage S ome body, well groomed and well 
carried, in the simplest shirt-waist and a 
neat skirt, — she has more style than one in 
the richest garments who is out of propor- 
tion and stands incorrectly. Style is not in 
the gown nor in the fabric, but in the figure, 
poise and carriage, as will be readily seen 
by turning to the accompanying illustra- 



* Publishers' Note: See Miss Cocroft's book 
upon "Effects of Poise upon Health." 

28 



tions. It is one thing to have good clothes ; 
it is another to know how to wear them. 

If a woman who stands out of poise learns 
to carry the gowns she wore last year, they 
will be as new gowns. 

Is it not better to spend more time and 
money in the correction of one's own figure 
and carriage and less upon clothing, and 
upon the study of how to cover the angu- 
larities by ruffles and frills, or of how to 
make the flesh appear less redoundant by 
straight lines. Each garment one puts on 
will then look well, and the more simple 
the gown the more style in the effect. 

A woman out of poise, with shoulders 
drooping, head and hips forward and a re- 
sultant relaxed position of the knees, can 
never lend style to clothing, as shown in 
Figures 6, 8, 10 and 13 ; a woman who car- 
ries herself well, dressed in a simple gown, 
may change dresses with the woman out 
of poise and the dress at once takes on a 
style of which the owner had not dreamed 
—you scarcely recognize the coat of Fi- 
gures 21 and 22 on Figure 23, or the gown 
of Figures 9 and 20 on Figure 8. 

29 



Note the contrast in the hang of the skirt 
in Figures 6, 8 and 10, standing with the 
abdominal lead, with the hang of the skirt 
in Figures 7, 9 and 11 in correct poise. One 
would scarcely recognize the same skirt. 

Again, note the contrast in the appear- 
ance of a shirt waist suit in Figures 13, 
14 and 16, as compared with the correct 
poise of Figure 12. Figure 14 shows the 
body tipped back from the waist line 
(sway-back), bringing the stomach into 
prominence, while Figure 13 shows the ab- 
dominal lead by reason of the displayed 
thigh joint and the depressed chest. 

Figure 16 shows the affected kangaroo 
attitude. 

Figures 8 and 9 show the change in the 
style of the back of a gown effected by the 
poise. 

In contrasting the style of the more ex- 
pensive gowns of Figures 6, 8 and 10 with 
the simple ones of Figures 12, 18 and 19, 
one realizes the economy of standing cor- 
rectly in order to give style to any gown. 

A woman may be across the street, so 
that her features are not discernible, yet 

30 



we at once form an idea of that woman's 
general cultivation and refinement, not by 
her clothing so much as by her movement, 
her figure and her poise. 
Style in It is worth while some day to step 
Coats ^ a coa {- room an( j W atch three 

women try on the same coat; it is a 
different garment as it is donned by each 
woman. Figures 21, 22 and 23 are of nearly 
the same measurements, but Figure 21 is 
sway-backed, while Figure 22 relaxes all 
muscles in the front of the torso. Garments 
on sale in the stores, are, as a rule, made 
in normal proportions and fit the normal 
Figure 23. The woman in Figure 23 for- 
merly stood in the attitude of Figure 22. 
While in the coat room you may per- 
chance see a well-dressed man come in with 
his wife; his head is well poised upon square 
shoulders, his full chest and erect carriage 
express prosperity, self-confidence and 
achievement. His wife is intelligent, and 
with fair health, rested nerves and a proper 
appreciation of herself and of her position, 
she is capable of keeping her place by his 
side as he makes her social position by 

31 



financial and business success; but she is 
thin, careworn, patient and tired. She has 
become a slave to her house; she has be- 
come so efficient in cooking, dusting and 
cleaning that no one else can do it to suit 
her. She sees her husband's admiration 
for fresh, bright, attractive women. It 
worries her and she becomes a nervous 
wreck. As he advances financially she has 
not been able to change her habit and trust 
material drudgery to others that she may 
keep her place by his side as his helpmeet 
in new duties as they develop with his 
broader outlook. One feels like saying: 
Dear little woman, rest. Take weeks of 
rest, and come back a fresh, rosy, sweet 
companion with whom none can compare 
in his eyes and in the eyes of your fain- 

iiy. 

He is evidently interested in her appear- 
ance or he would not be there, because nine 
chances out of ten he does not love to shop. 
He expresses a strong physical manhood, 
literally buoying up the worn-out, tired 
body and spirit of the life which has been 
given completely to him, or to the duties 

82 



with which her life with him has encom- 
passed her. 

She tries on coat after coat and turns 
questioningly, appealingly, for his approv- 
al; but he shakes his head. The model for 
the coat department tries on the coat and 
his face beams, the coat seemingly has a 
style which pleases; his wife puts it on 
again and his face falls; it does not seem 
to be the same coat. The contrast is pitiful. 
She has allowed her figure to become so 
much out of shape that it spoils the style 
of any garment. 

He is fond of her; she is the patient wife 
and homekeeper; she is the mother of his 
children, but she has made herself a drudge. 
At home he is used to it. Away from home 
is he proud of her? 

Wives, think upon these things! Let a 
little of the drudgery, which has become 
your habit, go; give a few minutes of the 
1,440 minutes a day to the care of yourself; 
let your family wait upon you, instead of 
being their page; spend a little time upon 
your health before you lose it ; make your- 
self look well in your clothes rather than 

33 



spend so much time in making clothes 
look well upon you; learn to live simply. 
It is more to grace a simple meal than to 
prepare a sumptuous one and then be too 
tired to lend cheer to it. 
Duty of a A wife, a mother, mistakes her 
Wlfe duty in giving her all to her chil- 

dren and to her husband at the expense 
of her health, and consequently her ap- 
pearance. To do her best for them she 
must keep a strong, calm mental poise; she 
must be their inspiration and example, and 
she cannot do this if her health and 
strength give out. With a strong, vigor- 
ous body and a clear mental poise, work 
and care are a pleasure, not a drudgery. 
No husband, no child, wants the wife, 
the mother to so sacrifice herself; why does 
she? Should she not use reason in the care 
of the home of her soul, as well as in the 
care of the clothing for her body? 

Her husband may be a business man 
struggling to gain prestige and success, 
and his wife helps him wonderfully if she 
expresses this prestige and success in her 
own personal appearance; not in tawdry 

34 



show but in bearing, in figure and in a car- 
riage, expressive of culture, dignity and 
refinement, which the world considers as 
elements of business success. 

Why should a wife, after the first few 
months of married life, grow careless of 
her personal appearance? Some one has 
said, "Any fool can catch a man, but it 
takes all her wiles to hold him;" to keep 
him contented after he is caught, and to 
keep the home atmosphere wholesome, at- 
tractive, helpful and buoyant. He is polite 
and he says he is satisfied; but it is his 
admiration, his satisfaction as he compares 
her with others, his consciousness that 
others admire her also, which every woman 
justly prizes. 

To hold his love, his admiration, and the 
consequently happy home atmosphere, 
there must be sweetness and strength at 
the kernel, when the first glow of the peach 
is removed. It means depth of character 
and quiet patience. The wife and mother 
today must be an angel of strength, un- 
selfishness and love, and she must show a 
desire to progress with her husband. 

35 



While the care of furniture and food 
means much, the home atmosphere means 
more, and no woman can be at her best 
unless she give a part of each day to the 
care of self, of health, figure and bodily 
expression. 

It is the little things which make for hap- 
piness ; the constant movement of a grace- 
ful, symmetrical figure about the home edu- 
cates, elevates, refines more than all the 
statues or paintings money can buy. This 
is beyond value and beyond price. Money 
cannot buy grace or a good figure, but any 
women can attain both by persistent ef- 
fort. 

Do not settle back into lassitude, allow- 
ing little material cares to crowd upon you 
and bury your integrity and individuality. 
Duty to During the active years of life 
Herself ^ e no bi e unselfish woman is giving 
and doing for others; she is building for 
herself a bulwark of friendships and love 
which shall be her capital and yield rich 
harvest in her waning years. But she is 
foolish if she gives to the limit of her 
strength, and at the expense of her appear- 

36 



ance; each day she should recuperate all 
force wasted during that day; each day she 
should give a care to the strength and clean 
working of the vital organs if she would 
be at her best, so as to accomplish the most 
in the least time for her family and her 
friends. The unselfish giving beyond the 
daily strength is foolish, short-sighted un- 
selfishness. 

A woman's plain duty is to keep young, 
well and strong, to heed the first danger 
signal of disorder within, and to correct it. 
By keeping her own integrity of body 
and spirit she holds the love of husband 
and family more spontaneously. 

Wives, do not make of yourselves physi- 
cal slaves, but, rather enslave your hus- 
bands and children by holding their love 
and admiration. You make selfish children 
by enslaving yourself for them; you de- 
velop the best in them by teaching them to 
admire and to wait upon you. 
How to Not one woman in seventy-five 
Stand stands correctly, with the weight 

lifted from the abdominal organs. Fig. 1 
shows the correct poise and outline of the 

37 



body with each organ in place, the lungs, 
the heart and all organs of the middle zone 
having adequate room. 

Figs. 2, 4, 6, 10, 13, 14, 24, 26, 28 and 31 
show common incorrect standing habits. 
In Figs. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 13, 14, 22, 24 and 26 
the thigh joints are forward, the chest is 
lowered, and, as a consequence, the shoul- 
der blades protrude, the lower and the up- 
per spine curve forward, giving the curve 
to the upper shoulder which we commonly 
say is indicative of age. If one be too 
fleshy and stand with head too far for- 
ward the fat accumulates across the 
shoulders. 

Another common habit is to force the 
middle spine forward, swaying the shoul- 
ders back, cramping the kidneys and the 
back of the lungs, as in Fig. 16, which is 
exaggerated. In this attitude the stomach 
leads. This position is commonly called 
' * Swayback. ' ' Each of the above positions 
sways the weight of the body to the heels. 

I cannot too fully emphasize the impor- 
tance of correct poise and carriage as af- 
fecting the vital organs, the nerve centers, 

38 



the freedom of the lungs and the action of 
the heart. 

In order that no one set of muscles or 
vital organs may bear the weight of 
another, the bones must be properly ad- 
justed in their sockets. Figure 1 shows the 
proper adjustment of bones, with head erect 
and an even distribution of flesh; yet not 
more than ten per cent of women stand cor- 
rectly, in an attitude expressing upright- 
ness, womanly dignity and self-poise. 

The habit of sitting with the weight on 
the end of the spine, as in Figure 17, brings 
the thigh joints forward and cramps and 
relaxes the muscles about the waist and 
in front, so that in order to maintain the 
equilibrium when one rises from a sitting 
posture, the chest bone is depressed, the 
head forward, and the weight rests upon 
the heels. Figure 18 shows correct poise 
in sitting. 

Walking is not good exercise unless one 
stands and walks correctly, because in the 
walk of the average woman the spine re- 
ceives a jar with each step, and the action 
of the nerve centers is interfered with; 

39 



then, as one walks, the back of the heel 
strikes the ground first, and with each step 
the vital organs, which are out of position, 
are shaken and the supporting ligaments 
weakened, often dislocating the more deli- 
cate organs. One can never walk correctly 
until the proper balance and the correct 
poise in standing have become a habit. 

The high-heeled boot is not an aid to 
poise. It stilts the weight of the body 
forward unnaturally, while every muscle 
and vital organ is straining to go back to 
the natural poise. This strain is particu- 
larly felt in the pelvic organs. 

In attempting to hold the upright atti- 
tude, many women go to extremes, and 
acquire a stilted, affected poise, appearing 
awkward and self-conscious. A natural, 
easy poise can be regained by uniform de- 
velopment of all muscles, then the body 
will be held in position without conscious 
effort. TThen the correct attitude is once 
regained the old attitude will be more un- 
comfortable than the incorrect one now is. 

Poise, means balance, and while the phys- 
ical poise is, to a certain degree, the result 

40 






Correct poise is econ- 
omy. The gown in Fi£. S 
cost $250, the gown in 
Fig. I) cost S60. 

Note the difference 
in the expression of the 
body, as effected by the 
poise. 



# 




The heads are severed 
here to show how much 
of thought and culture is 
read through bodily poise 
alone. 



10 





15 16 17 

Figures 13, 14 and 1(> illustrate common incorrect 
attitudes; the difference in style given to a shirt waist suit 
will be noted by comparing 13, 14 and 16 with Figure 12, 
which is in correct poise, or by comparing 17, incorrect 
sitting posture, with 15, correct position. See pages 29 
and 30. 



of mental and spiritual poise, the physical 
attitude also reacts upon the mind, pro- 
ducing a mental poise of which the physical 
poise is expressive. Lift head, chest and 
eyes, draw in deep draught of fresh air, 
and note the mental clearing and the broad- 
ening outlook. You feel more womanly, 
more self-respecting. 

Figure 14 shows a fault into which 
women fall who have sufficient pride to 
stand correctly but who have not beem 
taught the upright position. In this at- 
titude the body is tipped back from the 
waist line, thus curving the middle spine 
too far inward and bringing the waist line 
into prominence. While the attitude is 
faulty, it is preferable to the careless at- 
titudes, because not so disastrous in its 
effect upon the health. 

If you will know when the body is properly 
poised, stand opposite the edge of an open 
door, or any perpendicular line; place the 
balls of the feet, the front of the hip bone 
and the front of the shoulder against the 
door, poise the head so that the front of 
the ear is on a line with the same, as shown 

41 



in Figure 1. Most women feel unnatural 
in this position, because certain muscles 
lengthen and others shorten, to accommo- 
date the habit of standing. The attitude 
gives buoyancy and strength of body and 
mind. It is the "athletic poise." 

One who has stood out of poise for years 
cannot correct it by merely being told to 
do so, and, -unless rightly directed, may 
cultivate other errors as bad as the one 
she is trying to correct. The right muscles 
must be strengthened by the right exercises 
that the body may be held in position with- 
out thought. 

Another test is shown in Figure 18. 
Stand with the toes to the edge of an open 
door. If the flesh is evenly distributed 
and the body naturally poised (not habitu- 
ally, there is a wide distinction between 
natural and habitual) the door will touch 
the chest and will come within an inch of 
touching the body below the waist. This 
is the "chest lead," which if the flesh be 
evenly distributed, gives the body the na- 
tural outline and expresses mental and 
physical balance. 

42 



In the bodily expression of Figures 2 
and 3, the physical predominates over the 
mental and it takes a strong spiritual face 
to counteract the thought which the body 
alone gives. 

In Figures 24, 26, 28 and 31, the lung 
space is decreased, and the habit of breath- 
ing entirely changed; the stomach and liver 
are cramped, and the spine is thrown out 
of adjustment, pressing upon nerve centers 
and ganglia. Contrast the room given to 
lungs and heart in Figure 2 with the room 
given them in Figure 26. 

The habit of sliding the hips and curving 
the lower spine forward throws the uterus 
out of adjustment, and weakens the lower 
abdominal muscles. Woman's habit of 
standing and walking with the weight of 
the abdominal viscera pressing upon the 
pelvic organs, has perhaps caused more 
female weakness and spinal difficulty than 
any other agency. In this attitude one ap- 
proaches another with the abdomen fore- 
most—a deplorable thing to do. 
Head and The hollows at the base of the neck 
Shoulders an( j across the chest, unless due 

43 



to a lack of flesh, are occasioned by 
the faulty carriage of the head and the 
shoulders. Rounding shoulders, in almost 
every instance, are accompanied by a dis- 
placement of the thigh joint, by an incor- 
rect poise of the spine, of the knees and of 
the ankles. In fact, if only the position 
of a woman's head be shown, the poise of 
the knees, of the thighs, of the vertebrae 
and of the ankle joints can be told, because 
one joint out of poise means that the other 
joints are thrown proportionately out, to 
enable the body to keep its equilibrium. 
The fallacy of practicing just a few exer- 
cises to fill out the neck will be readily 
seen, as the entire poise must be corrected. 

It is interesting to watch the head car- 
riage of the people with whom one comes 
in contact, and to note how many necks in- 
cline forward, which makes the head seem- 
ingly grow diagonally from the front of the 
body, instead of growing as a flower from 
the top of a stem. The head should grow 
up to the light as the tall trees of the for- 
est reach upward. 

A strong, straight back, with an upright 

44 



carriage of the head, adds much to a wo- 
man's dignity and self -poise and reacts 
upon the mind. Yet so few backs are 
straight, especially in the upper vertebrae. 
In Figure 1 the head and shoulders are 
in correct position. 

Mothers constantly ask growing children 
to throw their shoulders back, but in so 
doing do not tell them how to put them 
back, and they often curve the spine be- 
tween the shoulders and the waist for- 
ward in so doing, thus the lungs and vital 
organs are cramped in the back and noth- 
ing is gained in chest depth or in lung ca- 
pacity. In almost all cases of rounding 
shoulders the child must be first taught to 
strengthen the muscles of the chest, over 
the stomach, the back, and, in fact, the 
muscles of the entire torso. Then he must 
be taught how to carry his head and his 
hips, as well as his shoulders, if they are 
to stay in position. 
The Mother's When the mother realizes that 
Duty the child unconsciously copies her 

physical poise and by this unconscious 
imitation grows into an abnormal attitude, 

45 



which affects his character she will see the 
importance of making this correction with- 
in herself.* Every mother who stands be- 
fore her child in an attitude of despond- 
ency and discouragement, with drooping 
chest, head down, rounding shoulders and 
protruding abdomen, is carrying a heavy 
responsibility in regard to the entire future 
life of that child. Kemember, that the 
child grows by imitation and often posi- 
tions termed heredity are the result of the 
child's imitation of the parent during its 
formative period. 
Health Rests Good health is every woman's 
With You birthright, and you are entitled 
to your share of it. Eealize this. Per- 
manent health rests with you, and in the 
appropriation of your share of sunshine, 
judicious exercise, fresh air, water and the 
kind of food adapted to your needs, you 
can regain your health, unless tissues have 
entirely wasted away, and you can retain 
it. 



* Publishers' Note: See Miss Cocroft's book 
upon "Reading of Character Through Bodily Ex- 
pression." 

46 



Every force of nature is tending and 
working for health. Nature is a sure pay- 
mistress and each effort you make to put 
yourself under her laws, so as to help and 
not obstruct natural growth, is rewarded in 
better health. Eemember, all natural force 
is positive and is for growth. 

Some one has said: "A woman is either 
a fool or her own physician at forty,"— 
a terse way of saying that every woman 
should have studied the laws of nature and 
nature's harmony and intelligently ap- 
plied to self before she reaches this age. 

As long as bacteria prey upon us, and as 
long as the human race is careless and neg- 
ligent, there will be need of materia medica, 
but, before middle life, every woman should 
know how to keep in health, so* that med- 
icine will seldom be needed. When correct 
habits of exercise, breathing, bathing and 
diet are established, in nine cases out of 
ten the physical ailments will disappear. 

The true physical culturist must have as 
thorough an understanding of anatomy and 
physiology as a physician, and be able to 
direct exercises to any vital organ which 

47 



may be weak. The liberation from physical 

weakness reacts upon the mind and the 

feeling of victory, freedom, expansion, the 

conscious lifting of self out of physical 

bondage, is the greatest result of physical 

work. 

N _. Women say they have no time to 

Preserve care for health and figure. No 

time? Oh, shame! If you would 

be strong, mentally and spiritually, you 

must keep the physical body strong that it 

may not trammel your growth. 

Woman spends hours embroidering a 
doily for her table or hosiery for 
her husband. Is he not properly ap- 
preciative?— possibly he prefers the rest- 
ed, happy wife. She spends much time put- 
ting together various condiments to form 
pastry and viands which ruin the digest- 
ive system of husband and children. Two 
intelligent-looking women recently spent 
an hour in discussing whether the starched 
clothes should be washed before the sheets 
and pillow cases, yet these same women 
think themselves too busy to regularly at- 
tend to exercise for health or figure. "It 

48 



is not enough to be busy "-—as the ant says: 
1 1 What are you busy about ? ' ' Your happi- 
ness, your usefulness and the happiness of 
your family depend upon your health, 
your mental poise and good spirits. 

Which counts for the most today: the 
cleaning of a certain amount of wall space ? 
the dusting of so much furniture? the darn- 
ing of various small garments? or the main- 
tenance of your individuality, self-respect 
and your family's pride in you? 

After you have regained health and out- 
line, fifteen minutes a day is all you need 
to keep vital forces strong, your brain 
clear and your figure in good proportion. 
You will not miss the fifteen minutes, while 
you will retain your self-respect and the 
pride of your husband and children. You 
will save many times fifteen minutes in 
efficiency; there will be no wasted, languid 
effort ; when you work you will accomplish, 
when you lie down you will rest. 
Young Be genuine, girls. Develop your 

Women figure and learn to carry yourself 
well; refuse to wear false hips or bust 

49 



forms ; the natural figure will not develop 
if you do. 

All hail to the athletic girl with the buoyant 
step, the rosy cheeks, the bright eyes, and 
the magnetic vitality which speak to us of 
the breezes of the forests! Learn to take 
pride in a vigorous strength and vitality 
which will enable you to resist draughts 
and colds— or if you do catch cold at an 
unguarded moment, to exert your self-mas- 
tery and vitality, which enables you to 
throw it off in a few days. The day of the 
clinging vine has passed; your friends are 
not interested in your ailments, excepting 
to help you out of them. 

The health of the young girl of today 
means everything to the next generation; 
every girl is entitled to the capital of good 
health as her start in life. Unfortunately, 
she receives little or no training from her 
parents or teachers in the knowledge of how 
to keep well. She is taught many dead 
languages, geological formations, or the 
movement of the spheres; she is taught to 
admire the health and the figures of the 
athletic Spartan women; she is taught mu- 

50 



sic and art, while the science, rhythm and 
art of her own body is neglected. Why is 
this? 

If a young girl has any pride in herself 
she wants to make a creditable appearance; 
the girl who does not is to be pitied— there 
is something lacking in her makeup. Every 
time she comes into another's presence she 
undergoes criticism. 

Let us help her to be a strong, symmetri- 
cal flower, with head erect, graceful out- 
lines, full chest and a good breathing 
power. Correct, natural development in 
a young girl effects the development of her 
character. 

The right-minded girls of today are 
to be the mothers of tomorrow. Do not 
dwarf them by allowing them to grow with 
cramped chests, drooping shoulders, low- 
ered head and eyes. 

Figures 4 and 5 show the change one 
young girl made in herself in a few months. 
One cannot look at these two outlines with- 
out realizing the change she has made in 
her entire views and purpose in life. As 
a reading of character, they bear much 

51 



study. One cannot help loving the sturdy 
little figure. She took the photographs her- 
self by pressing a bulb in her camera. She 
has formed healthful habits of breathing, 
bathing, diet and carriage, which means 
that she will grow to strong, wholesome 
womanhood, free from annoying ailments 
from which seventy-five per cent of women 
suffer. 
The Woman The girl of fifty needs exercise, 
of Fifty definitely prescribed for her, more 

than the girl of fifteen. She can work 
better in the privacy of her own room 
than in class,— yet why should the woman 
who approaches middle life feel that her 
friends will smile if they know she is fol- 
lowing any prescribed course of treatment 
to keep herself vigorous and well, — which 
means to keep young? It is a plain duty. 
As she lets go her hold upon the material 
cares of life, as she contemplates the fruits 
of these fifty years in her family, friends 
and worldly goods, she need not feel herself 
replaced and useless. She has reached the 
point where she can devote more time to 
herself, where she can regain the strength 

52 



of every weakened organ, can regain the 
sprightly, buoyant step and trim figure 
which her husband loved in the heyday 
of courtship, and be free to lighten the 
burdens of those who have taken the reins 
in hand, by a cheerful, wholesome, helpful 
atmosphere. 

The first fifty years have told in achieve- 
ment in family and in worldly goods with 
the mental and spiritual growth developed 
with the years. Her husband tells her he 
is entirely satisfied, yet his eyes beam with 
pride as she attains the sprightly step and 
the trim figure of earlier years. With what 
pride we hear him tell his friends that his 
wife is younger than his daughters. He 
realizes, too, that he must grow young to 
keep step with her ; he must have no crip- 
pled muscles, no weak nerves, the blood 
must be sent bounding through his veins 
so that he may retain his strength and 
vigor. 

The children so love to be proud of their 
parents— proud of their carriage, their 
bearing and general appearance. Can a 
woman afford to ignore this pride? Can she 

53 



afford to be fat and a consequent burden to 
herself, or to look old and wrinkled and sal- 
low? Why should she? Life holds too 
much for her to let go, or for her to be 
aught but a bright, positive, wholesome, 
helpful force. The morals and habits of her 
children are well established and she can 
now enjoy their good fellowship. She gets 
more joy in their companionship. 

The period of youth is spent in learning 
the ways of the world, in development of 
body and mind, and in establishing ideals 
middle life continues the mental develop- 
ment and achieves position, family, friends 
and money; while the later life is an enjoy- 
ment of the family, friends and money 
gained, with a happy anticipation of the life 
to come. 
Life is The span of life is lengthening, 

Lengthening an( j i ns tead of expecting to leave 
this world at three score years and ten, 
as Moses predicted, we now look for- 
ward to ninety or one hundred years. How 
beautiful is age when one grows old with 
all faculties alert and with a young heart! 

54 



One is just as old as the heart. Many a 
young man of thirty is as old as his dear 
father of eighty. 

As Charles Kingsley so forcefully said: 
"Ah! the waste of health and strength, 
especially in the young; the waste, too, of 
anxiety and misery in those who live and 
tend them! How much of it might be saved 
by a little rational education in those laws 
of nature, which are the will of God, about 
the welfare of our bodies, and which, there- 
fore, we are as much bound to know and 
to obey as we are bound to know and to 
obey the spiritual laws whereon depends 
the welfare of our souls." 
Arise to Ah, woman ! rise to the dignity of 
Your Best y ur position so fully appreciated 
by man, the onlooker, so often lost sight 
of by woman in the maze of little things, 
or in the slavery to material conditions. 
In mind and spirit rise above the ranks 
of the common to be a positive force 
for truth, for growth in all that is elevating 
and pure. Success is your birthright. 

You can build a little sanctuary, a holy 
of holies in the heart of each, who is 

55 



touched by your presence, that when 
storms, discouragement and adverse winds 
blow, he may retreat into the sanctuary 
for warmth and courage and guidance and 
light. 

Man's dominion is over the world and 
material conditions and lives,— your do- 
minion is in the hearts and souls of family 
and friends. 

It is not for the physical relief alone that 
1 would plead for health. It is for woman 
to rise to the knowledge that her health 
is under the guidance of her own intelli- 
gence, and that it rests with her to retain, 
or to regain it;— it is that the relief and 
immunity from physical ailments may leave 
the mind and spirt free for growth, for 
achievement,— that woman may realize her 
possibilities and grow to them. 

If I have quickened within you a dor- 
mant desire to make the most of yourself 
physically, mentally and morally; if I have 
strengthened within you a purpose to be 
your best, to rise to the noblest within you, 
to keep body, mind and soul sweet, pure, 
free and wholesome, to express within 

56 







19 20 

These Figures are in correct poise. 



21 




23 



Figure 21, 22 and 23 show the difference in the 
appearance of a coat upon three women of about the saiue 
weight. See pa^es 29 and 31. 



yourself all that is uplifting, cultivating, 
refining and helpful ; if I have strengthened 
your purpose to keep this body — the temple 
in which the soul abides — a clean, pure, fit 
dwelling-place for that spirit (which is so 
far beyond our comprehension that we can 
only in our consciousness now and then 
catch a fleeting glimpse of it) ; if I have 
created within you a desire to make this 
temple beautiful, as a feasting for your 
aesthetic nature; if I have strengthened 
your thought that it is as much your duty 
to add to the beauty as to the use of this 
world, I shall have accomplished my pur- 
pose, through this little book. 



57 



OBESITY. 

Its Causes and Relief. 

The woman who carries from twenty to 
one hundred pounds of extra weight, each 
time she moves, deserves both sympathy 
and commiseration. Sympathy for the 
burden, for the sluggish mental action 
which prevails in most cases of excessive 
fat, and commiseration for the ignorance 
of how to unload the burden, and in so do- 
ing experience relief and strength. 

A sweet womanly face, expressive of men- 
tal and spiritual strength, is entirely at 
variance with a grotesque figure, suggest- 
ing the predominance of the animal nature. 

Fleshy women have accepted their set- 
tled figures as their lots in life, not caring 
to take medicine for relief, for fear of in- 
jury to the digestive system ; but with care- 
ful attention to the right exercises, which 

58 



shall remove the fat where accumulated 
and to judicious diet, any woman can rid 
herself of superfluous flesh, and establish 
a good poise and carriage. She will not 
become wrinkled or old— on the contrary, 
the improvement in figure and the increased 
firmness of healthy tissues will make hex 
look years younger . 

She can reduce to stay reduced, if she 
will work sufficiently to change her habit 
of assimilation and then use ordinary care. 

M , By metabolism is meant the power 

Metabolism * . 

which the body possesses to contin- 
ually convert the food into matter compos- 
ing it, and the power to tear down this 
matter and put it into condition to be cast 
from the system. 

The metabolic changes whereby the food 
is converted into chyle and blood, and put 
into condition to be taken up by the circu- 
latory system that it may become a part 
of the organized tissues of the body, is 
known as assimilation or anabolism. The 
process of tearing down and putting into 
condition to be thrown from the system is 
known as katabolism. 

59 



To better understand the body processes 
in storing up too much fat it must be borne 
in mind that this building and tearing 
down process is constantly going on within 
the body. 

The storing up of an abnormal amount of 
adipose tissue is the result of defective as- 
similation and the failure of the system to 
consume in energy the amount of fat daily 
consumed in the food. 

The study of nutrition and metabolism 
of the body has heretofore been left en- 
tirely to the medical profession; but the 
patient, as a rule, discharges her physician 
and trusts to her own limited knowledge 
after her acute pain is relieved; so that 
medical practitioners have become en- 
grossed in the treatment by materia medi- 
ca, to give quick relief from pain, rather 
than in the permanent relief of correcting 
imperfect metabolism by re-establishing 
circulation, distributing nerve force and 
directing proper nutrition by nature's rem- 
edies of fresh air, sunshine, exercise, 
breathing, bathing and diet. 

60 



The failure of physicians to prescribe for 
permanent natural relief has led to the es- 
tablishment of the educated physical cul- 
ture teacher, who has a thorough knowledge 
of the body and who is able to direct exer- 
cise to any weakened organ. Dr. Win. T. 
Harris, U. S. Commissioner of Education, 
said: "The glory of the present revival of 
physical culture is that it is led by educated 
physicians. It means a synthesis of science 
with reform, and the end of the era of 
quackery in hygiene." 

The importance of correct metabolism 
will be seen, when it is realized that the 
origin of perhaps ninety per cent of dis- 
eases is due to abnormal action in renewing 
and relieving the waste of the body, due, 
in most instances, to injudicious eating and 
to sluggish circulation, — the faulty circula- 
tion is often due to the abnormal condition 
of the nerves. 

The chief factor at work in interfering 
with the conversion of the elements of the 
lymph into normal and proper cell struc- 
tures, is also, largely in the nervous sys- 
tem. Of ten thousand stout women exam- 

61 



ined during the past four years, at least 
eight thousand showed a weakened condi- 
tion of the nerves. This is, in part, the 
result of the packing of fat about the 
nerves, causing sluggish nerve impulse, 
but the weakened condition of the nerves, 
and their consequent failure to instigate 
muscular activity, is also one chief cause 
for the storing up of fat. There is also less 
activity in using up the fat. 

It is probable that the nerves do not ma- 
terially influence the metabolic changes in 
the fatty globules, because it is a well- 
known fact that the cells of the body are 
active, only when nerve fibres are in such 
intimate relation with them as to permit at 
all times a continued flow of nerve impulse; 
but the nerves materially influence the tis- 
sues about the absorbing cells, and the 
amount of fat stored up is controlled by the 
activity of the tissues; this activity is de- 
pendent not only upon direct muscular ex- 
ercise, but upon the nerve impulse given to 
the tissues. 

Physiologists are not clear as to what ef- 
fect the nerves have in changing the mole- 

62 



eules of the cells into waste products, and 
especially are they ignorant of the process 
of the change. 

In the small intestine the fat is mixed 
with the pancreatic juice and with the bile, 
which mixture makes a fatty emulsion, or 
soap formation. For this mixture it is 
necessary that the bile be poured into the 
small intestine, through the duodenum, just 
at the time the fat enters it. 

No matter how much fat is taken with 
the food, only a limited quantity will be 
absorbed during any given period, depend- 
ing upon the amount of bile and pancreatic 
juice secreted, and this is influenced by 
the activity of the pancreas, the liver, the 
bile ducts and the nerves controlling them. 
The unabsorbed fat passes off with the 
foeces. 

The maximum amount of fat absorbed 
by any one person is in the neighborhood 
of six grams per hour. 

The exact process in the absorption of 
fats is not known. The fatty globules, 
when mixed with the pancreatic juice and 
the bile, are not chemically changed, but it 

63 



is supposed that they are absorbed as small 
droplets of uniform size, partly by the 
blood capillaries in the mucous lining of 
the intestines and the stomach; yet the 
large majority are absorbed by the lacteals 
of the small intestines and thus carried 
into the blood current through the lym- 
phatic duct.* 

In tracing the fats from the stomach and 
the intestines, in their course into the blood 
plasma, among the tissues, physiologists 
have not bridged the chasm between the en- 
trance of the fat into the veinous system 
and its ultimate landing in the blood plas- 
ma. After absorption into the blood capil- 
laries of the portal veins, and into the lac- 
teals from the intestines, which reach the 
blood stream by way of the lymphatic ducts, 
it is almost entirely lost sight of as fat, a very 
small quantity of fat being found in the 
blood current. The carbon, which was the 
chief element of the fat, is, however, still 
within th e blood stream. In just what form 



* Publishers' Note: See Figs. 37 and 29 of the 
Blood Formation plate of the Body Manikin, pub- 
lished by us. 



64 



or combination, or whether it is free, is 
not known, but in the blood stream it is 
not in the form of fat. It is probable that 
it is dissolved into its constituent elements 
of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, and car- 
ried into the lymph spaces as such. 

If the process of assimilation of the 
lymph, which surrounds all tissues, and 
into which the carbon oozes out from the 
blood capillaries,* proceed normally, a nor- 
mal amount of carbon present in the lymph 
will be organized into bone and other con- 
nective tissues, as well as enter into the 
formation of all of the supporting struc- 
tures of the glands, the nervous system, the 
skin, the hair, etc. If the nerve impulse 
coming to these cells be weak, their assimi- 
lative process will also be weakened; there, 
however, will be a consequent decreased ac- 
tivity of the tissues, which results in the 
failure to cause a combustion of the waste 
into carbonic acid gas and urea, and the 
unused carbon floating in the blood, if not 
burned up as waste, will be united again 
with oxygen and hydrogen to form fat. 



♦Publishers' Note: See "The Circulatory Sys- 
tem," by Miss Cocroft. 

65 



Some of the real waste, in normal meta- 
bolism of the cells, becomes fat and is not 
fully burned up, but reaches only the stage 
of the free carbon in fat formation. 

Adipose tissue, when examined micro- 
scopically, is shown to consist of little blad- 
ders, or vesicles filled with fat. The large 
amount of it stored in the system is due not 
so much to fats (hydro-carbon) consumed 
as such, as to the carbo-hydrates (sugars 
and starches), which are converted into 
fats. Fats and carbo-hydrates are made 
up of the same constituent elements— car- 
bon, oxygen and hydrogen— the only dif- 
ference being that there is a larger propor- 
tion of hydrogen in the fats. In carbo-hy- 
drates the hydrogen and oxygen are in cor- 
rect proportions to form water, while in 
fats there is not sufficient oxygen to do so. 
Full breathing, therefore, by supplying the 
system with an increased quantity of oxy- 
gen, raises its ability to digest fat, or to 
eliminate it from the tissues. 

The digestion of carbo-hydrates, as well 
as of proteids, is influenced very materially 

66 



by the condition of the stomach, the intes- 
tines and the liver. 

The sympathetic nerves of the stomach 
are very responsive to disturbances in any 
other part of the body, being directly con- 
nected with the sympathetic nerves of the 
pelvic organs; hence digestion is influenced 
by many causes outside of the digestive 
system.* It is influenced directly by our 
thought. 

Normal metabolism or assimilation re- 
quires a proper supply of food, in quantity 
and quality and the regular removal of the 
effete products. 

The daily expenditure of the body is 
through the excretory organs — the lungs, 
the kidneys, the skin and the intestines. 

The lungs excrete carbonic acid gas and 
watery vapor. 

The kidneys excrete urea, water, uric 
acid and salt. 

The skin excretes water, and a small 
quantity of carbonic acid gas and fatty 
matter. 



* Publishers' Note: See "The Vital Organs: 
Their Use and Abuse," by Susanna Cocroft. 

67 



The intestines excrete insoluble salts and 
the residue of the food. 

The daily income of the body is through: 

The lungs, which take in oxygen. 

The digestive tract, which takes the food 
—water, salt, proteids, carbo-hydrates and 
fats. 

When the income of the body equals the 
expenditure, the body is said to be in equi- 
librium. 

The regaining of the equilibrium between 
the income and the excretions in obesity, by 
creating normal assimilation and thus cor- 
recting the tendency to store up too much 
fat, must rest in regulating the stomach, 
the intestines, the pancreas, the liver and 
the nerves controlling all tissues, so that the 
anabolic or constructive activity be normal, 
and in strengthening the action of the 
lungs, intestines, kidneys and the skin, that 
the waste may be freely eliminated. It is 
by this process that exercise, breathing and 
diet scientifically reduce the body. 
Causes of ^^ e conditions favoring corpu- 
Corpuience lence are: 

65 



(1st) An inherited tendency. (This ten- 
dency can be corrected.) 

(2nd) Too much food— a diet rich in pro- 
teids, with a corresponding proportion of 
fats and carbo-hydrates— though this is not 
always the case, because many women who 
store up excess fat are light eaters. 

(3rd) Insufficient exercise and a conse- 
quent hoarding of the waste of the sys- 
tem. 

(4th) Insufficient breathing capacity, 
with a corresponding lack of oxydation. 

(5th) Too much liquid at meals, which 
increases the absorption and digestive ac- 
tivity. 

(6th) Weakened nerves, which imper- 
fectly excite activity of the tissues. 

(7th) A cessation of the menses. 

(8th) Diminished mental activity — 
phlegmatic temperament and a consequent 
diminished activity of the nerves. (Vig- 
orous mental work, excitable temperament, 
care and sorrow cause the deposition of fat 
through nerve activity.) 

(9th) A diminished number of red blood 
corpuscles, which are the great exciters of 



oxydation in the body. This is the condi- 
tion with persons who, though stout, are 
pale or sallow, weak and nervous and 
"don't look healthy". 

(10th) The consumption of alcohol, as 
the alcohol is easily oxydized and thus the 
fat is not needed for heat or energy. 

Some theorists state that a secretion is 
manufactured in certain cells of the body 
(possibly in the thyroids), which regulates 
the quantity of fat in any individual, but 
this theory is not fully substantiated. 
Relief From The reduction of fat by muscu- 
Corpuience j ar activity, reasonable diet and 
complete oxydation through forceful cir- 
culation and deep breathing is the only 
rational method. 

The fatty globules stored up in the sys- 
tem are liberated by muscular activity; the 
oxygen uniting with hydrogen forms water, 
and, uniting with the carbon in the fats, 
causes combustion, resulting in the separa- 
tion of carbonic acid gas, uric acid and wa- 
ter; then by quickening the circulation, 
through exercise and correct breathing, the 
carbonic acid gas and water are thrown off 

70 



by the lungs and the skin, the uric acid and 
water by the kidneys. If the fat is not then 
re-supplied in quantities as large as are 
consumed, the patient is brought td normal 
weight. When the latter is once regained, 
it can be retained by judicious exercise. 

Drugs or medicine for the relief of corpu- 
lence are unsafe. They may have a dele- 
terious effect upon the kidneys and the di- 
gestive system, and a consequent reaction 
upon the heart, while exercise for reduction 
can be given in such a way as to strengthen 
these organs. 

Since the daily capacity for the absorp- 
tion of fat is limited, we are not so much 
concerned in the exact process of assimila- 
tion and absorption as we are in activity to 
oxydize and eliminate the carbon stored up. 

The relief of corpulence, then, rests in : 

(1st) Diminution of the quantity of food 
taken into the system; 

(2nd) Increased exercise, both mental 
and physical; 

(3rd) Increase in the breathing capacity; 

(4th) Limitation of the quantity of liquid 
consumed ; 

71 



(5tli) Regulation of the temperature of 
both air and water; 

(6th) In cases of anaemia, an increase of 
the number of red blood corpuscles; 

(7th) Strengthening the nerves, to in- 
crease activity of the tissues. 
Permanency While the patient is working for 

of Reduction relief from f ^ she will form 

habits of daily exercise, forceful circu- 
lation and correct breathing, which will 
keep up the activity necessary for assimi- 
lation and oxydation, and these habits of 
bodily activity to which she accustoms her- 
self will become, not only a necessity, but 
a pleasure. 

Much time is wasted in trying to reduce 
by walking. One can get better and more 
effective exercise by fifteen minutes' prac- 
tice, of the right kind of movements, in her 
own room than in a five-mile walk. 

It is an easy matter to keep the body in 
normal flesh. 

It is erroneous, however, for a person to 
expect to reduce to stay reduced, so that the 
system will never go back to its old habits, 
if she neglect to take sufficient daily exer- 

72 





24 



25 



Figure 24 reduced to Figure 25 in six months. See 
pages 43 and 83. 



20 



Figure 26 reduced to Figure 27. forty pounds, in 
four and a half months. See pages 43 and 83. 



cise; but it is just as easy to form habits of 
daily exercise as to form habits of eating 
and of bathing, and exercise becomes a 
pleasure. 
~. , r The idea that one needs become 

Diet for 

Reduction weakened in following a diet for 
the reduction of fat is erroneous. 

The exercise necessary to create combus- 
tion of the fatty globules improves the gen- 
eral functioning powers of the system. It 
strengthens all of the vital organs, strength- 
ens the heart, the lungs, the nerves, and in- 
creases mental vigor. 

In regulating the diet for reduction, the 
fats and carbo-hydrates should not be en- 
tirely cut off; the quantity and quality r of 
food should be regulated according to the 
patient's condition. 

Fats and carbo-hydrates do not pro- 
duce strength of the tissues. 

A diet consisting of the right proportion 
of proteids is the strengthening one. It in- 
creases the amount of oxygen in the system, 
while fat decreases it; yet it is a mistake to 
follow a proteid diet alone, as one cannot 

73 



maintain the equilibrium of metabolism on 
a purely flesh diet. 

A healthy person daily excretes from 
eight to nine ounces of carbon in the form 
of carbonic acid gas in the expired air, 
through the skin, the urine and in the 
fceces, so that in order to obtain this from 
a purely flesh diet, one would be obliged 
to eat about four and four-tenths pounds of 
beef a day, and the digestive system would 
not stand this for any length of time. 

Tea and coffee do not produce fat, and, 
in many cases, where the diet is limited, de- 
pending upon individual conditions, they 
often aid in reduction by exciting the cir- 
culation and thus increasing oxydation and 
elimination. 

It is injudicious for any woman to at- 
tempt to diet for the reduction of fat, un- 
less scientifically directed, because the age, 
the condition of the blood, the kidneys, 
stomach, intestines and nerves must be 
taken into consideration. Each person 
should be given intelligent individual 
treatment, and the diet and exercise should 
vary according to the conditions. 



In the case of young people (under twen- 
ty), the diet should be intermittent and 
should not be prolonged unduly; in the 
case of people of seventy or eighty years, 
the reduction should be more gradual than 
in middle life. 

With exercise and a reasonable diet, 
adapted to the conditions of each individ- 
ual, on an average of about ten pounds of 
fat a month can be removed and the pa- 
tient gain strength. 
. While a diet, restricting the quan- 

Aione Not tity of f ood taken into the sys- 
tem, if sufficiently limited, will 
cause no more fat to accumulate than the 
system can take care of, yet regular exer- 
cise and full breathing are necessary to 
eliminate the waste, and to cause the com- 
bustion of the fatty globules now stored up. 

In attempting to reduce by diet alone, 
without the increased muscular activity, 
the habit of metabolism is not changed, nor 
are the digestive forces quickened, so that 
the patient, as a rule, gains more rapidly 
when a normal diet is resumed. 

75 



To reduce by exercise alone, while still 
storing the system with more fat than it 
can daily carry off, requires hard muscular 
exercise indeed, to use up the carbon daily 
re-supplied. 

The importance of deep breathing, 
and** mg i n connection with bodily activity 
^ x S? at i on to create active combustion of the 

of Waste 

carbon, as well as of the waste 
of the system, has been shown. As fat 
is packed about the heart and lungs, the 
breathing becomes more shallow, and con- 
sequently less oxygen is taken into the sys- 
tem and less waste removed from it; thus, 
as a woman begins to show a tendency to 
the accumulation of fat, she should guard 
her habit of breathing, else, as the breath- 
ing capacity decreases, less fat is oxydized 
and the fat accumulates rapidly. A large 
quantity of fat stored in the system dimin- 
ishes the oxydation, because of the lack of 
metabolic activity of the cells themselves. 
With an abnormal quantity of flesh, there 
is more waste matter, consequently the 
lung capacity should increase rather than 
decrease. The average woman who carries 

76 



too urn eh fat takes in about one-third of 
the oxygen required for the complete com- 
bustion of waste. 

The lungs of each normal individual are 
of sufficient size to take in enough oxygen 
for this complete combustion, if they be un- 
restricted by fat, poise or clothing. 
Effect of Fat is simply fuel from which the 
Cold body creates heat and energy, and 

the quantity of fat stored is influenced by 
the temperature. Since fat is required to 
keep the body warm, there is more com- 
bustion of fatty globules in a cold atmos- 
phere than in a warm. This is one reason, 
also, for cold baths as an agency in the 
combustion of fat, because more fat is con- 
sumed to create the heat necessary to pro- 
duce reaction; yet not all fleshy women (on 
account of other physical causes) should 
indulge in the cold bath. 

». . . If the circulation is below par, the 

Circulation 

normal amount of blood is not 

brought to the lungs to throw off the car- 
bonic acid gas and to gather oxygen; hence 
as the blood is the oxygen-carrier, sufficient 
oxygen is not carried to the tissues. 

77 



The circulation is greatly affected by the 
nerves. 

A small excess of fat may not 

Fatty . J 

Degeneration cause much discomfort, but the 
tendency to corpulence may ulti- 
mately result in breaking down the muscu- 
lar tissues. 

Fatty degeneration of the heart is a 
change in the muscular fibre in which the 
transverse traiae are replaced by the glo- 
bules and granules of fat. It is caused by 
an impaired nutrition, prolonged anaemia, 
chronic gout, alcoholism, diseases of the 
coronary arteries, tuberculosis, phos- 
phorus poisoning, or cancer. 

Where there is danger of the failure of 
the heart, because of the accumulation of 
fat, the cardiac muscles should be regular- 
ly strengthened by exercise. The circula- 
tion thus becomes quickened and meta- 
bolism increases. 

In fatty degeneration, globules are depos- 
ited in the muscular fibres, in the glandular 
cells of the liver and kidneys, in the carti- 
lage cells, in the lymph and pus corpuscles, 
as well as in the nerve fibres. This degen- 

78 



eration often occurs after severe fevers or 
after artificial heating of the tissues. 

Infectious diseases, heart lesions, pulmon- 
ary troubles, kidney diseases and over-ex- 
ertion are more serious in cases where the 
fat is above normal. Cases of extreme 
obesity are apt to be complicated with dis 
eases of the circulatory system, the kid- 
neys, the lungs, the organs of locomotion, 
the nervous system, rheumatism and gout. 
An undue number of fatty globules 

Loss of 

Mental stored about the nerves presses up- 

on them and dulls the action of 
the nerve area of the brain corresponding 
to the nerves interfered with. Consequent- 
ly, many who store up excess fat, lose their 
will-power, their brains become dull, and 
they lack mental energy; muscular activity 
thus requires more effort. The memory of- 
ten becomes impaired. In correct exercise 
for brain strength the mind is kept firmly 
fixed upon the muscles being used and 
strength of nerve, with power of mental 
concentration, is developed. 

79 



Mind Mast Man y ineffectual efforts are made 
Be Active to reduce by massage movements ; 
but massage does not direct the vital or- 
gans or stimulate deep breathing; to 
be effectual, massage must be daily, 
for all parts of the body, and be kept up for 
months. 

One gets a better massage of the vital 
organs by exercise directed to them, than 
by manipulation by another's hand, be- 
cause where one is mentally directing exer- 
cise for movement, the mind works with the 
body, and the nerve activity is thus in- 
creased. 

A woman will succeed better in the re- 
duction of fat by daily work in her own 
room than in a class. In exercising in class 
she works by imitation of her teacher, and 
her mind is not consciously held upon the 
work she is trying to do; besides, the class 
work may not be adapted to her condition. 
In work in her own room, upon exercises 
adapted to her case, her mind is held close- 
ly upon the exercises as she watches the 
muscular activity in her mirror, in response 
to the mental impulse. It is the mental ac- 



B(J 



tivity, with the physical, which brings best 
results. This is one reason why instruc- 
tion through correspondence has been so 
eminently successful. 

Kapid reduction is not desirable, because 
the body cannot change its habit suddenly. 
It is by persistent, regular following of de- 
finite instructions that lasting results are 
attained. A reduction of ten pounds a 
month is sufficient. 
Distribution The question of the distribution 
of Fat f f a f. (j e p en (i s entirely upon the 

bodily poise. We are constantly being told 
that "the favorite parts of the body, in- 
tended by Nature for the storing up of fat, 
are over the abdomen and across the shoul- 
ders." but the fat never unduly accumu- 
lates across the shoulders if the head and 
shoulders are carried correctly. Neither 
does fat unclulv accumulate over the ab- 
domen if the hip joint is properly poised in 
standing and in sitting, and the rib-cage 
properly expanded. 

The fat succumbs to the force of gravity 
and settles along the lines of least resist- 
ance. When the head is carried forward, 

81 



there is no resistance to the accumulation 
of fat across the shouldens. Whetn the 
thigh joint is forward, there is no resistance 
to the accumulation over the abdomen ; but 
if the hips be correctly poised, and the mus- 
cles of the abdomen strong, there is a regu- 
lar contraction and relaxation of these mus- 
cles with each inhalation, and in walking 
these muscles receive a normal amount of 
exercise. 

Figures 2 and 3 show the change in the 
outlines made by a pupil in four months of 
exercise, breathing, bathing and a judicious 
diet ; this woman would not permit her ex- 
cess fat to return, even if she had to take 
many times the exercise which wa& re- 
quired to get rid of it. She is perfectly 
healthy, perfectly strong and feels ten years 
younger— it is needless to say that she also 
looks younger. 

The reduction of 53 pounds in the stu- 
dent shown in Figures 28 and 29 was made 
in five months. Surely this student looks 
15 years younger. Friends who had not 
seen her for a few months scarcely recog- 
nized her. 

82 



The change in the young woman of Fig- 
ures 24 and 25 shows an entirely different 
future opened up to her. This change was 
made in about six months. 

The photograph for Figure 31 was taken 
November 10th, and that for Figure 32 in 
the following May— a reduction of 58 
pounds. 

The womanliness and change in purpose 
expressed in the faces of these pupils show 
most effectually the reaction of bodily vigor 
upon mental and spiritual tone. This men- 
tal awakening, with the entire change in 
the vantage point of life, is shown conclu- 
sively in Figures 26 and 27. The strength 
of brain force developed there is marvel- 
ous. 

The figures here represented are a few 
among tens of thousands of cases which 
have been reduced in this way. It takes 
strength of character and definite effort to 
change any bodily habit, but the work is en- 
joyable and pays richly. 
Mental The mental enjoyment in study- 

Enjoyment i ng t h e wor k 01lt f or herself, and 

the knowledge that she can completely 

83 



control this physical body, are more than 
half of a woman's gratification. She is per- 
fect mistress of herself, as she knows how 
to retain her health and figure, and she real- 
izes that if at any time she should be inju- 
dicious and the fat should return, she can 
remove it. In learning how to remove it, 
she quickens her circulation, strengthens 
her nerves, develops her breathing power 
and strengthens the heart, the lungs and 
every vital organ, and she learns how to 
stand and to carry herself so as to lend style 
to her clothes. 

With regulative exercise, therefore, and 
the intelligent study of her diet, one is, to 
a large degree, mistress of the metabolism 
of her own body. Work for reduction be- 
comes a real pleasure, not a task. The 
whole body becomes vibrant with life- 
force, deep breathing becomes a pleasure, 
and life takes on a more definite aspect. 



84 



LEANNESS. 

Its Causes and Relief. 

Any woman, unless vitally sick with 
acute disease, which must be first cured, 
can put on flesh, can round out bony neck, 
chest, arms and hips, and can develop the 
breasts to normal size, if she is willing to 
follow a few hygienic rules intelligently. 
The treatment must be individual, because 
the causes for the lack of flesh are so varied, 
and the causes must be relieved before her 
condition will change. 

To fill up the hollows of the neck and 
chest and to develop the breasts, one must 
learn the correct poise, not only of the head 
and chest, but of the entire body; one must 
also establish habits of correct breathing, 
of correct poise in sitting and in walking. 

There are many artificial means of de- 
veloping the breasts, but they will not stay 
developed unless the poise is correct. 

85 



The breasts, through the sympathetic 
nerves, must often be reached by strength- 
ening the pelvic organs, the entire nervous 
system, and by building up the vitality. 
The fallacy of attempting to build up the 
breasts by massage alone, by ointment or 
the cupping system is apparent, as these 
do not correct the cause. 

After a careful reading of the causes and 
relief of obesity, it may be inferred that the 
opposite treatment would be the natural 
relief of the other extreme. However, this 
is not entirely true. The treatments for 
both obesity and leanness strengthen weak- 
ened organs, and free all bodily restrictions 
by creating a good circulation and an activ- 
ity of all excreting organs, so that impuri- 
ties are fully eliminated; yet, in their es- 
sentials in the kind of exercise, rest, diet, 
etc., they are dissimilar, according to the 
condition of the patient. 

The causes which interfere with the prop- 
er nourishment of the tissues and the con- 
sequent rounding out of the figure are : 

86 



(1st) Failure to regulate the quantity 
of food which the digestive system will 
handle. 

(2nd) The habit of eating at irregular 
intervals. The digestive system, as well as 
every other part of the body forms habits, 
and it must have regular rest, alternated 
with regular exercise. 

(3rd) Insufficient mastication of the food. 
The food must be sufficiently ground and 
properly mixed with saliva before it enters 
the stomach; neither pepsin nor diastase 
nor any other medicine will replace saliva 
as a digestive fluid. 

(4th) An insufficient quantity of liquid 
taken with the meal or near meal time. 

The theory formerly held by physicians 
that water taken with the meal retards di- 
gestion is no longer held by those of more 
advanced study. The objection was made 
because it was held that the food would not 
be properly masticated. 

The liquid should not be used to wash 
down poorly masticated food, so that it is 
not freely mixed with the saliva, but should 
be taken at regular intervals during the 

87 



meal period and before and after meals. 
The stomach works better when it is full, 
and liquid taken with the meals brings a 
better activity of the cells of the mucous 
linings of the stomach and intestines, thus 
the digestive juices are more freely se- 
creted into the intestines and the stomach, 
and, the digestive process is aided. 

(5th) Food which does not contain suffi- 
cient fats and carbo-hydrates, in proportion 
to the amount of proteids. If the diet con- 
sists largely of proteids, with a small pro- 
portion of fats and carbo-hydrates, so much 
of the fats will be used up in the produc- 
tion of heat that none will be stored be- 
tween the tissues. On the other hand, 
fats and carbo-hydrates may be combined, 
but their nutritive value may be counter- 
acted by the tannin in tea, by vinegar or 
other too strong acids. 

(6th) Improperly cooked food, unwhole- 
some and difficult of digestion, — much food 
is spoiled in the cooking. 

(7th) Feeble or disordered digestion 
from any cause. 

S8 




r 



v 



' 



28 



29 



Figure 28 reduced fifty-three pounds, to Figure 29, 
by exercise and diet in five months. See pa^es 48 and 82. 




31 



32 





33 



34 



Figure 31 reduced fifty-eight pounds to Figure 32 in 
six months. See pages 43 and 83. Figures 33 and 34 show 
the change in a young girl in a few months. See page 25. 



When the digestion is weak, care should 

taken to have all the starchy foods well 

cooked. Pickles, vinegar, tea, coffee and 

acid fruits, too much candy and pastry 

should be avoided. 

(8th) A monotonous diet also retards di- 
gestion, because the stomach responds very 
quickly to the state of the mind. Tastily 
prepared dishes, served invitingly, are the 
best of appetizers. Many women fall into 
ruts in preparing food; they also serve it 
in a manner which does not invite the ap- 
petite. Many also become so tired of food 
of their own cooking that the nerves of the 
stomach reject it and the system does not 
assimilate it. 

(9th) Overwork interferes with diges- 
tion and uses up the body tissues. Too 
much work, whether mental or physical, re- 
quires more than the normal supply of en- 
ergy, and when the fats and the carbo-hy- 
drates have all been consumed in energy, 
the proteids and the tissues themselves are 
consumed to meet the extra demand. 



(10th) Nervous exhaustion renders the 
system incapable of assimilating the food 
prepared by the digestive organs. 

(11th) Tense nerves hold the digestive 
organs so tense that the nourishment is not 
properly absorbed in the stomach and in- 
testines ; by holding the cells about the tis- 
sues tense, the food digested will not assim- 
ilate. By too tense nerves, the waste is not 
always carried off by the intestines and con- 
stipation results. 

(12th) Insufficient breathing. Regular 
habits of breathing have everything to do 
with regulating the digestive system. In 
correct breathing, every inhalation gives 
the stomach, liver, spleen, pancreas and in- 
testines their natural physical exercise and 
this natural exercise is necessary for their 
proper functioning. 

There are many people who are appar- 
ently in good health, and whose nerves are 
apparently normal, who remain thin. This 
may be an inherited tendency, but it can be 
corrected by a liberal diet of carbo-hy 
d rates and fats, with regulative exercise, 
followed by complete relaxation. 



Tense Perhaps the large majority of cases 

Nerves f excessive leanness not caused 

by emaciation as the result of an acute ill- 
ness are clue to an over-strenuous condi- 
tion of the nerves, which not only affects 
the digestive organs, but interferes with 
the proper absorption and assimilation. In 
an over-tense condition of the nerves the 
circulation is impeded and the nutriment 
does not freely enter the lymph spaces to 
be absorbed by the tissues. 

The assimilation of fat depends upon the 
activity of the muscular tissues (see page 
65 to 68)? ai >d in a large number of cases the 
nerves are held so tense that the tissues are 
just as rigid as the nerves and the fat can- 
not lodge between the muscular fibres; or 
if it does, so much energy is wasted that it 
is worked away as fast as formed. 

When muscles and nerves are held tense, 
there is greater mental concentration and 
more energy, thus more fat, is used in walk- 
ing a block than is needed to walk six. 
Much force is also wasted in the tensity of 
jaw and throat in talking. 

91 



(10th) Nervous exhaustion renders the 
system incapable of assimilating the food 
prepared by the digestive organs. 

(11th) Tense nerves hold the digestive 
organs so tense that the nourishment is not 
properly absorbed in the stomach and in- 
testines ; by holding the cells about the tis- 
sues tense, the food digested will not assim- 
ilate. By too tense nerves, the waste is not 
always carried off by the intestines and con- 
stipation results. 

(12th) Insufficient breathing. Regular 
habits of breathing have everything to do 
with regulating the digestive system. In 
correct breathing, every inhalation gives 
the stomach, liver, spleen, pancreas and in- 
testines their natural physical exercise and 
this natural exercise is necessary for their 
proper functioning. 

There are many people who are appar- 
ently in good health, and whose nerves are 
apparently normal, who remain thin. This 
may be an inherited tendency, but it can be 
corrected by a liberal diet of carbo-hy- 
drates and fats, with regulative exercise, 
followed by complete relaxation. 



Tense Perhaps the large majority of cases 

Nerves f excessive leanness not caused 

by emaciation as the result of an acute ill- 
ness are due to an over-strenuous condi- 
tion of the nerves, which not only affects 
the digestive organs, but interferes with 
the proper absorption and assimilation. In 
an over-tense condition of the nerves the 
circulation is impeded and the nutriment 
does not freely enter the lymph spaces to 
be absorbed by the tissues. 

The assimilation of fat depends upon the 
activity of the muscular tissues (see page 
65 to 68)? and in a large number of cases the 
nerves are held so tense that the tissues are 
just as rigid as the nerves and the fat can- 
not lodge between the muscular fibres; or 
if it does, so much energy is wasted that it 
is worked away as fast as formed. 

When muscles and nerves are held tense, 
there is greater mental concentration and 
more energy, thus more fat, is used in walk- 
ing a block than is needed to walk six. 
Much force is also wasted in the tensity of 
jaw and throat in talking. 

91 



Nerves are also held tense even during 
sleep, so that an unconscious movement 
(hiring sleep wastes force. 

Such people need to learn the gospel of 
relaxation. Exercise for building up and 
rounding out their muscles should be di- 
rected to freeing nerve centers, to relaxing 
nerves of the digestive system, with care 
to breathing and bathing, according to the 
condition. 

Mental relaxation, as well as physical, 
must be encouraged, because where the 
mind is held tensely the tissues of the body, 
as a rule, are held rigid, the circulation is 
retarded, the blood plasma is not freely 
secreted about the tissues and both tissues 
and nerves are insufficiently nourished. 

Blood plasma oozes out into the lymph 
spaces for absorption by the tissues during 
rest after exercise. This is when the tis- 
sues dine, and complete rest and relaxation 
should be encouraged, so that the lymph 
may thoroughly surround and nourish 
them. Impoverished nerves, as well as im- 
poverished muscles, are nourished during 
this rest. 

92 



Effect of erhaps ninety per cent of women's 

Foods difficulties arise from some trouble 

with the digestive system; these troubles 
are often retiex, as difficulties with 
other organs affect the nervous system and, 
through the sympathetic nerves, the stom- 
ach and intestines. 

While too much food is one cause for 
obesity, leanness also often comes from eat- 
ing more food than the digestive system 
can handle. This weakens the walls of the 
stomach and the intestines, resulting in an 
excess of mucus upon their linings, pre- 
venting circulation and a free secretion of 
gastric juice; the gall ducts become clogged 
so the absorption of the nutriment into 
the lacteals is retarded, as well as the elim- 
ination of bile into the intestines. This is 
especially true in catarrh of the stomach 
and bow^els. 

Often the thin person will put on more 
fat by having the diet cut down one-half 
than by increasing it one-half, depending 
upon the over-worked condition of stomach, 
liver and intestines. It is the food which 

93 



Nerves are also held tense even dm 
sleep, so that an unconscious movement 
(luring sleep wastes force. 

Such people need to learn the gospel of 
relaxation. Exercise for building up and 
rounding out their muscles should be di- 
rected to freeing nerve centers, to relaxing 
nerves of the digestive system, with care 
to breathing and bathing, according to the 
condition. 

Mental relaxation, as well as physical, 
must be encouraged, because where the 
mind is held tensely the tissues of the body, 
as a rule, are held rigid, the circulation is 
retarded, the blood plasma is not freely 
secreted about the tissues and both tissues 
and nerves are insufficiently nourished. 

Blood plasma oozes out into the lymph 
spaces for absorption by the tissues during 
rest after exercise. This is when the tis- 
sues dine, and complete rest and relaxation 
should be encouraged, so that the lymph 
may thoroughly surround and nourish 
them. Impoverished nerves, as well as im- 
poverished muscles, are nourished during 
this rest. 

92 



Effect of erhaps ninety per cent of women's 

Foods difficulties arise from some trouble 

with the digestive system; these troubles 
are often reflex, as difficulties with 
other organs affect the nervous system and, 
through the sympathetic nerves, the stom- 
ach and intestines. 

While too much food is one cause for 
obesity, leanness also often comes from eat- 
ing more food than the digestive system 
can handle. This weakens the walls of the 
stomach and the intestines, resulting in an 
excess of mucus upon their linings, pre- 
venting circulation and a free secretion of 
gastric juioe; the gall ducts become clogged 
so the absorption of the nutriment into 
the lacteals is retarded, as well as the elim- 
ination of bile into the intestines. This is 
especially true in catarrh of the stomach 
and bow^els. 

Often the thin person will put on more 
fat by having the diet cut down one-half 
than by increasing it one-half, depending 
upon the over-worked condition of stomach, 
liver and intestines. It is the food ivhich 

93 



is absorbed and assimilated, not what is 
eaten, which tells. 

One chief cause for leanness is in the tor- 
pid action of the liver, so that the bile is 
not poured into the small intestine at the 
time the fatty food enters it,— the bile be- 
ing necessary to put the fats in condition 
for absorption. 

The intestines must be kept strong and 
freely open, that the cells about them be 
free for absorption of nutriment. 

Thin people build up more from a diet 
consisting of a large proportion of carbo- 
hydrates, with a reasonable proportion of 
proteids and fats, than from an abundance 
of fats, as might be supposed. 

Since the system will assimilate only a 
limited supply of fat, eating more than it 
requires for heat and energy simply inter- 
feres with its functioning. Carbo-hy- 
drates well cooked are readily converted 
into fats, and are stored up in the system 
to be used as needed for heat and energy. 

For perfect health, we do not need much 
fat, ^ut we do need well-rounded, well- 
nourished nerves and tissues. 

94 



By the regulation of daily habits of exer 
cise, rest (mental and physical), breath- 
ing, bathing and diet, anybody can be built 
up to roundness and symmetry. 

It takes a longer time, as a rule, to build 
up a thin body than to reduce it, because 
it takes a longer time to regulate the nerve 
habits than it does the habits of other tis- 
sues. 



95 



Books by Susanna Cocroft 

GROWTH IN SILENCE 

"Knter into thine inner chamber and shut the door." 
''There is a divine sequence, a golden thread running through 
the lives of ail men and women of truly great and lasting 
power." — R. W. Trine. 

A GOOD FIGURE— OBESITY, LEANNESS— 
(Illustrated) 

"Style is in the carriage, not in the gown.'' 

"Mo woman is to blame for not being beautiful at sixteen, but 

she. has only herself to blame if she in not beautiful at 

forty." — Fra I,ifpo. 

"Few women know how to stand, to sit or to walk without undue 

expenditure of nerve force." 

IDEALS AND PRIVILEGES OF WOMAN 

"The normal woman is happy if well." 

"Her rirst duty is to herselt. To be a good mother she must 

first be a perfect woman." 

"She has not only her rights as a true woman, but the devoted 

homage and service of man." 

THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM— Heart, Lungs, Arteries, 
Veins, Lymphatics and Blood 

Miss Cocroft has spent years in the practical study of anatomy 
and physiology. This lecture follows the blood from the heart 
on its complete circuit of the body back to the heart — showing 
the dangers and results of sluggish and of impure blood flow, 
with resultant physical ailments and their relief. No student 
of physiology should be without it. 

BODY MANIKIN AND POSITION OF VITAL 
ORGANS 

The body manikin with but few additions is sold to physicianb 
for $5.00. This manikin is printed in seven colors and in- 
cludes fourteen different plates, showing the muscles, blood 
vessels, nervous system, the organs of respiration, digestion 
and all other vital organs, each in its exact relation to the 
other. It enables a woman to look within her physical self 
and to understand the many facts about herself which Miss 
Cocroft explains in her lessons — facts which every woman, wife 
and mother should know — facts which it is a sin for her not 
to know. 

CHARACTER— As Expressed in the Body— (Illustrated) 

"How can I hear what you say when what you are is forever 

thundering in my ears." — Emerson. 

True grace is visible expression of graciousness. 

Grace, womanly dignity, self control, ease of manner, laziness, 

indifference, lack of energy and ambition, moral weakness, or 

moral courage, each has its expression. Not only how to thus 

read character, but how women can best express it in herself 

is the theme of this address. 

"The secret of the highest power is in uniting the outer agencies 

of expression with the power that works from within." 



THE NERVOUS SYSTEM— Effect of Habit upon Life 

This lecture includes a clear description of the nervous system, 
it- functions and its influence upon various parts of the body, 
ny of woman's physical ills are traceable to shattered nerves, 
and "many such ills yield with astonishing readiness to the in- 
fluence of a rightly directed mind. Habit is a marvelous gift 
of nature. Rightly used, it lengthens life and is a great con- 
server of energy. Wrongly developed habit is a check to growth. 

SELF-SUFFICIENCY— Mental Poise 

"The great man is he who, in the midst of a crowd, can keep 
with perfect sweetness the serenity of solitude." — Emerson. 
"Man has uvo creators: The Infinite, who created the atoms 
and the laws by which the atoms take form; and himself, the 
moulder of the form, and the moulder of thought and character." 
"It is not a soul, it is not a body we are developing, but an 
individual." — Montagu k. 
Belief in self is the first element in success. 

FOODS — Nutritive Value and Digestibility 

The problem of proper nutrition for the body is as vital as any 
study effecting the morals, health and the consequent power of 
a nation, since upon the kind, quality and quantity of food 
depend the sustenance, health and strength of its citizens. 

MOTHERHOOD 

The life, the vitality, the mental capacity, the moral character 
of the child depend directly upon the strength, the character, 
the mental attitude of the mother. Motherhood is woman's most 
sacred privilege and the true mother finds greatest joy in fitting 
herself lo fulfill that privilege in the most beautiful way. How 
woman may best equip herself for motherhood and how the 
mother may preserve herself and prolong her usefulness to her 
children, is clearly set forth in this lecture. 

THE VITAL ORGANS— Liver, Stomach, Intestines, 
Kidneys — their Use and Abuse 

The whole treatise is so h:cid and so simply toid that all can 
perfectly understand it, and the body manikin shows the organs 
referred to and renders the explanations absolutely clear. This 
lecture is full of practical, everyday health hints. 

AIDS TO BEAUTY— Skin, Hair, Eyes. Teeth, Hands, 
Feet and Ears 

Life is made up of # little things — and so is beauty. No woman 
can be truly beautiful or wholesome who neglects the details 
of her toilet. Indeed, these little things are a constant index 
of character. This lecture gives many health and beauty hints 
which some women have paid hundreds of dollars to learn. 



PUBLISHED BY Tttf 

PHYSICAL CULTURE EXTENSION SOCIETY 

624 Michigan Bvd., Chicago 



Contents 

Poise — 

Page 

Arise to your best 55 

Art within self 17 

Corset not needed 26 

Duty of mother 45 

Duty of wife 34 

Duty to self 36 

Environment 20 

Good Figure — Every Woman can have... 23 

Good Figure Economy 26 

Head and Shoulders 43 

Health, No time for 48 

Health rests with you 46 

How to stand 37 

Infant born perfect 22 

Life Lengthening 54 

Men more Artistic Sense 19 

Prime at fifty 15 

Style in Carriage 28 

Style in Coats 31 

Symmetry of Figure 14 

Woman of fifty 52 

Young Women 49 



Obesity — 

Page 

Obesity 58 

Breathing 76 

Cause of 68 

Circulation , 77 

Diet for Reduction Strengthens 73 

Diet alone not sufficient 75 

Distribution of Fat 81 

Effect of Cold 77 

Fatty degeneration of the heart 78 

Loss of Mental force 79 

Mental Enjoyment 83 

Metabolism 59 

Mind must be active 80 

Permanency of reduction 72 

Relief from 70 

Leanness — 

Leanness 85 

Causes of 85 

Effect of Foods 93 

Tense Nerves 91 

Relief 85 



MAB 23 1912 



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